28.07.2009 | Austria
S&T: Positive operating EBIT (+0.4 million euros)
Stable services sales in second quarter 2009
The results of the S&T Group have continued to improve in Q2 2009 compared to Q1 despite significant restructuring costs. Reduced sales in the fields of Business Solutions and Enterprise Systems are in line with the general IT market development.
With an EBIT in the Q2 2009 of -0.39 million euros (2008: 1.5 million euros) and an EBITDA of EUR 1,0 million (Q2 2008: 3.2 million euros), S&T was not able to completely avoid the impact of the economic crisis, but could still achieve a positive operating EBIT of +0.4 million euros when allowing for restructuring costs of more than 0.8 million euros. In the third and fourth quarters of 2009 S&T expects a stabilization of orders and an improvement of results. The gross margin improved to 41.5% (Q2 2009: 40.0%) and the share of consulting and services business in the total sales rose to 57.5% (54.3 million euros out of a total of 94.3 million euros). In the field of Managed Services (MS), which mainly involves long-term service and outsourcing contracts, sales remained stable at 23.3 million euros (Q2 2008: 23.9 million euros), whereas sales in Enterprise Systems (ES) fell by 28% to 40.1 million euros. The consulting services provided by the Business Solutions (BS) unit were down in terms of sales by 17.0% to 31.0 million euros. The EBIT of -0.39 million euros in the second quarter was primarily due to restructuring costs (0.8 million euros) and a reduction in the workforce from approximately 3,100 to 2,800. The S&T Group is currently examining two interesting acquisition candidates in its core regions that would support an significant increase in market share and core expertise. The company will submit an initial forecast for the full year 2009 in September.
